E3 2013: Ducktales Remastered (Hands-On)

Not Pony tails Remastered or Cotton tails Remastered, but Ducktales Remastered! Out front and center of the Capcom booth was Wayforward Technologies' newest opus, drawing me in with its siren song of amazing gameplay and fantastic music. The recently revealed Amazon level was present for play along with the Transylvania level, and unsurprisingly the both played as well as they did all those years ago on the NES.

There are the obvious visual updates, but this is more than just a simple HD upgrade, this is a full on reinvention of the NES classic. With new art for every stage, and updated tunes provided by Jake "Virt" Kaufman, the only the only really 'new' things are the increase in storyline elements, and voice acting, and they both felt really solid in the two levels I was able to play. Hearing the classic voice actors return for reprise their roles was somewhat jarring, Ducktales hasn't been relevant for over twenty years now, but Alan Young still sounds as up for the role of Scrooge McDuck as ever.

The gameplay is still as simple and fun as ever, Scrooge is able to bounce around on his cane, and use it to defeat enemies through some rather challenging platforming that still feels as good as it did back in the original game. Also being an accomplished golfer he can use the cane to send boulders and other objects flying. The Amazon stage really hasn't changed all that much outside of the changes to make the boss a little bit more challenging than he was before, but the layout through the spiky vines section still requires skilled use of the pogo jump.

With a rough date of Summer 2013 penned in for the release date, it's looking like Ducktales Remastered will be one of the best transitions to HD any gamer could ever hope for. The gameplay was on point and honestly I could not ask for a better experience, well except maybe to enjoy this in my home with a nice sound system. Get on that quickly won't you Capcom?